The present invention relates generally to data searches, and more particularly to synonym supported searches in data stores.
To search data stored in databases, a database query needs to particularly specify what type of data is being searched. For example, if the data being searched is stored in a relational database table having multiple columns, the search query (e.g., an SQL Query) must specify which column or columns may include the data being searched.
Search engines have simplified searching for data stored in various types of data stores, in that a plain language search query may be used to retrieve data from various sources. Search engines generally browse through various data sources to create indexes. A search query is processed with the help of these indexes. The indexes generally include keywords and destinations the keywords in data stores.
However, the search query still must specify the exact words or phrases that need to be matched with the content of these various data sources. For example, if a search query includes the search criteria “home address” and if the underlying data source identifies this information as “house address,” the query would not retrieve the desired results. Some commercial search engines have built in logic to correct spelling mistakes in the search queries. Also, some commercial search engines are also configured to provide suggestions as to similar sounding terms for the searched terms.